Exolvo: Of Doors, Houses, Castles, and the Sisters Who Tore Them Down
by FromDustReturned
Summary: A series of one-shots about Elsa and Anna at Hogwarts. Set in the Exolvo universe from Tumblr. Ch.1: Anna and Elsa both have very different goals in mind when the Sorting Hat is dropped over their heads.


Elsa stands with her back straight, trying not to think too much. She has been well prepared for this day, and she knows what to expect. There will be a hat, a song, a house, and a feast. There will be people who don't respect her, people who do, and ghosts. There will be a shared bedroom. The only thing she doesn't know is when. She knows she will be among the first, but whether that means first or fourth is a mystery.

"Abbott, Hannah!"

Something cold is crawling up her spine, but she doesn't shiver, or flinch. She holds perfectly still. The other children standing in line next to her look scared, and one boy in particular looks like he might be sick. Elsa is scared too, but she doesn't show it.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

_Slytherin_.

"Arendelle, Elsa!"

She steps forward, her back straight, her head held high, gloved hands clasped firmly together. Someone snickers, someone else whispers _'Slytherin...,'_ and she relaxes, just a little. She sits on the stool, and the hat is dropped over her head. It falls over her eyes, just as it had done for Abbott, and everything goes dark, and quiet.

"Intelligent, brave, caring, and... Oh my. What's this I hear? Slytherin?"

_Yes, please. Slytherin._ It was as far away from the inevitability of Anna as she could get.

"You would do well in Ravenclaw, and Gryffindor would help you to... ah, yes, I see it now. That's quite the ambition, to protect everyone, and to keep a secret for so long, and at such an age... and you're sure? Well, then, SLYTHERIN!"

Elsa is so relieved she almost forgets to take the hat off. Only the fact that she can't see prevents her from running directly to the house of green and silver, as far away from Gryffindor as she can possibly be. She tries to glide, and to be graceful, but in the end she stumbles, and falls onto the bench. Her housemates are still clapping politely, although some look at her in disgust. She'll have to remember to avoid them.

"Bones, Susan!"

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

The crowd of first years begins to get smaller as more and more children are sorted. Bulstrode is the second Slytherin to join Elsa, and then come Crabbe, Davis, Goyle, Greengrass, Malfoy, Nott, Parkinson, and Zabini. Elsa listens to each name and remembers it, along with how they react to her. She can't afford to make mistakes, and knowing who her enemies are will make everything that much easier. She doesn't remember who her head of house is, and that scares her a little, but the relief of the sorting is still so fresh in her mind that she finds it doesn't matter as much as she thought it might.

Davis is the first one to talk to her.

"Hey, Arendelle, your parents were Muggles, right? Why are you in Slytherin?"

_Were_. The question is innocent enough, and Elsa doubts that Davis' intentions were malicious; she sounds genuinely curious. That one word, though, is enough to freeze her heart, and stop the breath in her lungs._...your parents were..._

"Don't be an idiot, Davis. They were Muggle _Ambassadors_. Arendelle is the name of a Pureblood."

"Please tell me you mean Bloodtraitor. Don't worry, Davis, it's an understandable mistake – "

Cold. Elsa doesn't hear the rest of Malfoy's words, as she fights the panic welling up inside of her. This, she hadn't expected. She wasn't prepared for this, just as she hadn't been prepared a year earlier, when the news came.

"Hey, Arendelle, are you alright? Malfoy, shut up."

A hand touches her, and she tries not to, but she flinches. She looks up, and it's Nott who's watching her, looking concerned. Across from her, Davis looks like she's about to cry. Malfoy looks miffed, but also a little guilty. Elsa doesn't expect an apology. She nods briefly, but doesn't say anything. Instead she reaches for a glass of water, just so that she can do _something_ to make her thoughts stop. Her hand shakes, but the others don't notice; they've already moved on to talk about Harry Potter. No one notices when she sets the cup back down without having taken a sip, the water inside frozen solid. No one else tries to talk to her, and she's glad.

* * *

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Euan Abercrombie walks to the cheering Gryffindor table, and now Anna is _ready_. She is so ready, in fact, that when "Abernicht, Tilly" is called to the stool, she runs out instead. There's a moment of confusion, and the scary woman with the scroll clears her throat and says again, "_Ab__e__rnicht_, Tilly."

Anna's eyes meet that of the tall girl she almost crashed into, and her shoulders slump. She hates waiting so much, but her name isn't Abernicht, and it's not her turn yet. The older students are laughing and whispering.

"Will Miss Abernicht please proceed to the Sorting Hat?" The Professor is getting impatient, and Anna is about to back up when something magical happens. The real 'Abernicht, Tilly' winks, and with an apologetic salute to the Professor, steps back into line.

Anna can hardly believe her luck, but there's no time to be grateful. She runs to the stool and sits down, making sure that she is facing towards the Slytherin table, and away from the Gryffindor table. She's had this moment planned for the last three years, and there is only one direction she's running when the Hat is taken off, and that is towards –

The last thing she sees before the Sorting Hat falls over her eyes is her sister, sitting alone at the far end of the table. Anna thinks that secretly, she must be watching.

"You aren't Miss Tilly Abernicht."

_Iknowwhatyou'regoingtosayandIdon'tcareSlytherin!_ She mentally catches her breath, and then stomps on the disgust she feels for the house of the snakes, thoroughly squashing it. There's no room for doubt. She thinks of a snake, and a skull, and everything else that she saw in the picture that fell out of her sister's diary two summers ago. She thinks of green, and silver, and Elsa

"You are impulsive, selfless, courageous, stubborn. Those are all the traits of a Gryffindor."

_But I'm very ambitious, and I can be cunning too_. She really can't (she's tried) but the Sorting Hat doesn't need to know that. _I have to be in Slytherin, I have to – _

" – be with your sister? Slytherin will not help you to achieve that."

"But – " things are spiraling out of control, and Anna clutches the edge of the stool as she says that last word aloud, desperate.

"You will need all the bravery you can get, Anna Arendelle. GRYFFINDOR!"

The silence is broken by a roar of applause from the table behind her, but Anna doesn't move, because she doesn't know which way to go. She wants to run to her new house, and she wants to run to Elsa, and she wants to run far away, to a place where there are no houses or doors or anything that can keep two sisters apart.

The hat is taken off her head by the exasperated Professor, and Anna realizes that if she doesn't go somewhere fast, she will be forcibly marched to her table. Despite how often it's been dragged through the mud, she still has her dignity, so she gets up and turns around and runs to the Gryffindor table, squeezing herself in between two older students. Her back is to the Slytherins.

"Hey, Tilly, right? Are you okay?" The red haired girl to her right speaks, and Anna stops glaring at the red table cloth. She doesn't want to admit it, but she's secretly glad to be a Gryffindor. She wanted to be with Elsa so badly that she thought it wouldn't matter, but she can't deny the relief she felt when she saw her uniform change to red and gold.

"No." Anna peeks behind her, and sees the real Tilly run over to Hufflepuff, looking thrilled. "That's Tilly. I'm Anna." And then, because she's never been one to keep her thoughts to herself, she says, "The stupid hat didn't listen to anything I had to say. I _asked_ to be in Slytherin, but then it said that I needed to be brave. I could've been brave in Slytherin!"

"Um…" The girl looks suddenly uncomfortable. "You wanted to be in Slytherin?"

"I wanted to be with Elsa."

"You wanted to be with _Elsa_? Elsa Arendelle?"

"Yes. She's my sister, and I never see her anymore, and I – "

"You're Arendelle's _sister_?"

"_Yes,_ stop repeating everything I say." Anna looks impatiently at the girl seated next to her, and when she does she feels her stomach drop. The girl looks so confused, and that already says more than enough, but there's something else there too; disgust. It's barely there, but it's too much. Anna feels the sudden overwhelming urge to cry, because suddenly it all seems hopeless. Gryffindors _hate _Slytherins, and she's in Gryffindor, and Elsa's in Slytherin and never even mentioned that she had a sister.

"I…" She won't cry, she _won't_, because the last time she cried was September first four years ago, when Elsa left without saying goodbye, and this is supposed to be a _happy_ day…

"Wait, don't cry! I'm sorry." The girl seems to be thinking along the same lines as Anna, which is good, because she could really use some help right now. "Look, I think we got off on the wrong foot, so let's try again. I'm Ginny."

"I'm Anna." Anna says again, and sniffs. "Are you…" she already knows the answer, but she has to ask, just to make sure. "Are you friends with Elsa? Do you know her?"

"No, she's not in my year, and anyways, she's – " Ginny stops, swallows a few words, and continues with, " – but I know someone who is friends with her. Sort of."

"Oh. Who? Can you introduce me?" The thought of Elsa having a sort-of-friend is confusing, because for the life of her Anna can't figure out how you could only be a sort-of-friend. It's either all or nothing, isn't it? Maybe it's just the first step, she thinks, on the road to becoming forever friends. Whatever it is, it'll have to be enough.

"Yes, but not right now. Her name's Luna, and she's in Ravenclaw. She's a bit odd." Ginny smiles at the look of disappointment that Anna knows is spread plainly across her face; she's beginning to think that Gryffindor is the worst possible place to be, when it comes to her sister.

"And hey, for what it's worth, I think you're already really brave. Not many first years argue with the sorting hat. I think it may be something special to Gryffindor."

Anna smiles, feeling a little happier, and a little more hopeful. She likes Ginny. "Do you want to be my friend?" The words come spilling out before she can help herself, and her cheeks turn bright red. She's never been one for thinking things through, and her mouth doesn't always connect with her brain.

Ginny looks startled for a minute, but then she smiles, and reaches over to punch Anna lightly on the arm. "Of course! We were friends the moment we started talking. Now, I recommend you start eating something. The food really is fantastic, and I don't want to be responsible for a fainting firsty. Especially if that firsty happens to be my friend."

* * *

**I don't own Harry Potter, Frozen, or the Exolvo headcanon (which can be found on tumblr). R&R, and leave a prompt if you want to. This will be a collection of oneshots, so anything F/HP is welcome. I hope you enjoyed!**


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